Perhaps this is already a topic (and if so, feel free to direct me to the original one and I’ll request to have this one locked!) but I was doing some thinking and curious to see the community’s response.
As the title asks: Has any writer been able to survive solely off the income they make from Episode?
There are a number of factors that go into this question, of course. Whether you have a spouse/parent/roommate to help you pay bills, the cost of living in your area and/or country, even if your reads stay relatively level every payday, etc. etc.
As a reader, I, of course want all of my fave writers to succeed and be able to do what they love and get paid enough to pay their bills. But as a writer, I’m wondering if it’s even plausible for this to occur? Especially since Episode seems to have already reached its peak and is on the decline.
Any writers out there in the payments program willing to weigh in, or readers who’ve heard their fave writers talk about this? I would appreciate all the comments
I feel like he’s a special case also, because he was (is?) an employee of Episode, of sorts. Like he had (still has?) an exclusive contract with Episode that whatever story he writes becomes a featured story, or something like that. Though good point.
And I think he has said recently that he doesn’t make enough any more…
Actually I just looked it up and at first he was going to write romance/erotica because fantasy stories don’t get enough reads to float the bills alone and then the more recent news was that he’s found another app to write for since he no longer writes official stories for episode
So to answer your question @lizzy.writes, I think there’s been a handful of people who have quit their day job after finding success on the app, but whether they survive solely off of the money the make from Episode? I’m unsure. Most that I know of go on to write for other platforms as well as Episode, so I don’t really think they’re living off of the payments program here, but rather, they’re a freelancer of sorts
I know there have been, however I believe the majority of those authors live in countries where the cost of living is lower than countries like the US, Canada, Australia, the UK etc.
The problem with Episode payments is that it’s so unreliable. You might make enough to live for a few months, but there’s no consistency or guarantee that you’ll be able to do this long term.
Now with all the new apps popping up and offering fixed payments, authors at least have the ability to diversify their income which is a lot more stable.
I believe that you cannot solely survive on writing on episode for payment due to the fact it depends on the area you’re living, especially if it’s New York then that’s almost impossible due to the high rent and house payment. Unless you have roommates who also pay and split up bills. Then that’s a different story.
I live on Long Island and if Epsiode was my only source of income, well that will be enough for me to buy some Chinese takeout and afford one night at a bed and breakfast. Although, I’m not sure how much authors get paid.
same here Lmaoo New York is so fricken expensive dooee. Authors get paid depending how many accumulated reads they receive in a month? I think I’m not sure, but Bronte has a whole video about it. Coz it’s different for everyone.
She does still write on Episode and also on another app, Hooked I believe.
@lizzy.writes I think the authors who do write full-time on Episode live with their long-term partners who also earn and yeah most probably write on other apps as well as having income from some other kind of freelancing (art commissions etc)
I calculated that I would need to earn an average of 3 million reads a month if I was living in Australia in order to live what I would consider comfortably as a single adult (so that includes rent at somewhere nice but not super central, bills and a little extra cash, but no dependants). That’s 36 million reads a year.
I should also note that I’m taking Australian tax into consideration. I think a lot of people forget that this is taxable income and depending on where you live, you might actually be taxed as a contractor which I believe can be similar to a company rate in some cases? (In Australia, you will be taxed as an individual.)
I used a guesstimate exchange rate, but I did take that into consideration too.
In Mexico, I could probably live decently on 1 million reads/month as an individual. I wouldn’t have a lot of spending money (if I continued living where I currently do without splitting the cost with a partner), but I probably would be able to save a tiny bit each month.
You’re welcome! It’s definitely possible (for a very small percentage of authors), but not exactly reliable long term. The thing with Episode as well is that you don’t have any control over anything. Other apps might offer a fixed amount per episode (for example), but in Episode you can’t guarantee how many reads you’ll get or even what the rate will be. You can’t even really guarantee your own publishing schedule because of approvals .
Ugh so true. I guess, what I’m gleaning here, is that it’s possible for certain authors in certain countries to scrape by on Episode income alone as long as they get at least one million reads a month, but it’s not a sustainable source, bc personal issues, approvals, recessions, episode shutting down one day… More of a kinda, you can quit your job, but make sure to keep an eye on positions at other places and/or have another source of income from another writing job or another person in the household so you don’t die haha.
same here Lmaoo 
New York is so fricken expensive dooee. Authors get paid depending how many accumulated reads they receive in a month? I think I’m not sure, but Bronte has a whole video about it. Coz it’s different for everyone.
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